Editorial Eye 88

Publication design is a thread that runs through Eye 88. There’s the innovation in books documented in ‘To have and to hold’; Derek Birdsall’s exemplary art direction for Pegasus; E. M. Ginger’s digital facsimiles; and Gerald Cinamon’s memories of integrated design at Penguin. And we have a Reputations interview with Irma Boom about her multifaceted yet single-minded approach to book design.

But the issue that never goes away is that of technology. Whether it is the rise of chromolithography, letterpress or Sketchpad in the past, or convergent news broadcasting and high-definition scanning in the present, the cultural shifts wrought by such changes are rarely predictable. Nor can we guess their effects on other artefacts.

An unintended consequence of print production is in evidence on the cover – a haunting image from Raynal Pellicer’s collection of retouched press photos, with markings that were never meant for scrutiny. They were merely part of the process. Who knows what high tech detritus awaits a sharp-eyed curator in the digital future?

John L. Walters, Eye editor, London

First published in Eye no. 88 vol. 22 2014

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and single issues. You can see what Eye 88 looks like at Eye before you buy on Vimeo.